The base idea for the project came about in 1993. I had gotten interested in the construction of geodesic domes due to their rigidity during hurricane force winds. The ease of assembly was also encouraging to me. At the time I was doing some ceramics projects and had used a common technique for ceramic household knick-knacks where you dip cotton lace into clay slip, allow it to dry and then fire it. The base material would burn away leaving only the vitrified ceramic shell as delicate as the lace but at rigid as glass. I thought I would like to initiate this idea of one material mimicking and eventually supplanting the other to build a giant dome. If I could build the structure and then train a woody vine along it eventually the metal would rot away leaving only the wood taking on the basic shape of the dome struts.